| modified | Thursday 1 May 2025 |
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Monday, May 1 2017 at 15:28
Soft 404 Vs Hard 404 Errors: What「s The
Difference2
David Jones
Helping Bloggers Succeed
Even when you have an attractive website filled with relevant, timely
content that links to other reputable sites, there are still a few places
where it「s easy to stumble and end up with negative effects on your
SEO. The technical design and function of your website is just as
important as the content when it comes to climbing the ranks to get a
top spot on Google. One example of a technical error that can cause
big problems for your search ranking is a soft 404 error.
Hard 404 Errors
A hard 404 error is something you「ve probably encountered more than
once while browsing the web. Simply put, it「s a signal to a user that the
page couldn「t be found or accessed. This could be because the page
doesn.t exist. Hard 404 errors can be frustrating for users who can.t
find a page, but arent likely to affect your SEO in a large way. 404
errors also aren.t always the fault of the site. If a person types in a web
address wrong, for example, they may receive a hard 404 error.
Soft 404 Errors
Soft 404 errors, on the other hand, are negative signals for your
website. A soft 404 error occurs when someone is trying to access a
Soft 404 errors, on the other hand, are negative signals for your
website. A soft 404 error occurs when someone is trying to access a
URL on your website and is getting a message that the page doesn.t
exist. However, the site isnt sending out a typical 404 error code.
Instead, it「s responding with a 200 OK HTTP response code. This
means that the site is saying the URL is fine and not broken or missing.
In other words, the response indicates a successful HTTP request.
When the request isnt successful, the 200 OK code shouldn.t be sent
by the server. When soft 404 errors appear on a large percentage of
your pages, it becomes a serious customer experience and SEO issue.
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Effects on Page Indexing
When Googlebot crawls the web to index pages, it has a limited
amount of time that it can spend on each domain before it moves on to
another one. When you have pages giving soft 404 errors, Googlebot
interprets them as pages with unique content that you want indexed
and displayed in search results. So it spends some of the time it has on
your domain to index pages that arent delivering unique or useful
content to your viewers. This is sometimes called a sites crawl budget.
This means that the pages you want indexed may take longer to
update and rank on Google. You should run your website so that you
have the best chance of ranking for the keywords you“re targeting as
quickly as you can 一 and soft 404 errors can prevent that from
happening. Instead you may be ranking for useless terms that arent
related to your niche, especially if you have a high proportion of pages
with 404 errors.
When Googlebot crawls the web to index pages, it has a limited
amount of time that it can spend on each domain before it moves on to
another one. When you have pages giving soft 404 errors, Googlebot
interprets them as pages with unique content that you want indexed
and displayed in search results. So it spends some of the time it has on
your domain to index pages that arent delivering unique or useful
content to your viewers. This is sometimes called a sites crawl budget.
This means that the pages you want indexed may take longer to
update and rank on Google. You should run your website so that you
have the best chance of ranking for the keywords you“re targeting as
quickly as you can 一 and soft 404 errors can prevent that from
happening. Instead you may be ranking for useless terms that arent
related to your niche, especially if you have a high proportion of pages
with 404 errors.
Effects on SEO
Because a soft 404 error can limit the number of good pages indexed
and how frequently they「re indexed, it can have a negative effect on
your SEO. ldeally, every time Googlebot crawled your page it would
index the newest versions of all your pages, signaling to Google「s
ranking algorithm that you“re a frequently-updated and relevant site.
However, when your pages with soft 404 errors are indexed, you“re
losing the positive benefits of all those well-crafted, on target pages.
This is because the web crawlers may not prioritize the pages you“re
trying to rank when they「re spending their time on pages with soft 404
errors.
Google on Soft 404 Errors
Google directly said on the Webmaster Central Blog that:
“We discourage the use of so-called“soft 404s“because they can be
a confusing experience for users and search engines.[. . .] Search
engines may spend much of their time crawling and indexing non-
existent, often duplicative URLs on your site. This can negatively
impact your site「s crawl coverage.“
There are some areas of SEO like subfolders vs subdomains where
Google isnt extremely clear on what you should do to get the best
possible SEO results. However when Google is direct and clear about
an issue, you should always do what they suggest. In the case of soft
404 errors, your best bet is to eliminate them completely so that you
have the highest ranking you can achieve.
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User Experience
Another problem with soft 404 errors is that they create a negative and
confusing user experience. A hard 404 error just refuses to load the
content and explains that it couldn.t be found. However, a soft 404 will
often redirect to the homepage or show a related page that wasn.t
what the user was searching for. it can be a frustrating experience for a
person looking for content on your site and may end up preventing a
return visit from that person in the future.
You dont have to use the standard 404 error page either. You can
create a custom page that is triggered when someone requests a page
that doesnt exist on your server. It can redirect the user to another
page while still sending the 404 error code out that indicates that the
page isnt found. This is one way to improve the experience for users of
your website.
Configuring Your Pages
When you have a URL for a page that isnt there anymore, it「s best to
configure itto return a hard 404 error. This tells both users and search
engines that the file couldn“t be found
Even if your page is displaying a 404 error message, it may not be
actually transmitting a 404 error code. The code and the content of
the page aren.t necessarily the same. Your page must be transmitting
that code so that Google and users know that it「s nonexistent or not
reachable. The HTTP header response must be changed so that the
server returns a proper 404 code instead of the 200 OK code.
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301 Redirects
One way to deal with a page that is no longer available is to configure it
to redirect to a different page. However, if you「re not planning to
revamp the page in the future and if it doesn.t have value in terms of
entry traffic, it「s better to completely delete it and move it off your
sitemap for good. That way Google will stop indexing that URL and
spend its time crawling pages that still offer good information.
Another reason to use a redirect is if you have a valuable link on
another site that you dont want to lose. The link will still be directed to
its original page, and then the 301code will bring itto the new page. It
can preserve your very high-value SEO links.
Never try to configure your site to only use 301 redirects instead of
404s. They「re only appropriate when a direct replacement page is
available. Some webmasters turn every 404 into a redirect, but that「s
not an appropriate way to set up your website. Having 404 errors when
no direct replacement product or page is available is more appropriate.
How to Check For Soft 404 Errors
The first thing you need to do is see how many of your pages are
returning soft 404 error codes. Load your site into Google Webmaster
Tools (or Search Console as its actually called now but l still prefer the
old namel) and navigate to the Diagnostics portion of the page. Once
there, open Crawl Errors and look to see what pages, if any, are
returning errors. Above the listed URLs, click Soft 404s to see which
The first thing you need to do is see how many of your pages are
returning soft 404 error codes. Load your site into Google Webmaster
Tools (or Search Console as its actually called now but still prefer the
old namel) and navigate to the Diagnostics portion of the page. Once
there, open Crawl Errors and look to see what pages, if any, are
returning errors. Above the listed URLs, click Soft 404s to see which
pages Google thinks are soft 404 errors.
Sometimes Googlebot believes a page is a soft 404, but it「s really a
page with accurate content returning a 200 OK response. In that case,
it「s good to have the page indexed and you don“t need to worry about
the code. Other times, you need to configure the page so that it 301
redirects to the right page. (For example, if you were running a contest
that ended but you“re still getting hits on that page and want to steer
them toa new contest or information about your products.)
Ifthe page shouldnt exist or should be returning a 404 error code,
then it「s time to fix the problem.
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Fixing Pages with the Wrong HTTP Response Code
If your page is returning the wrong error code and you want to change
it talk to the person who handles your website. They「I have to update
the code in the content management system for each of the URLs in
question. Depending on which content management system or website
architecture you use, the fix will vary.
Useful Tools
Once you「ve fixed any errors in how Google and site visitors see your
page, try using Fetch as Google. It「s a useful tool that can give you
insight into how Google crawls your page and whether anything on it is
blocked to the crawler. If you have anything you need to debug, Fetch
as Google is a good place to start and will let you see what, if any,
errors exist in the indexing process.
If you aren“t sure what HTTP status codes are being sent by a URL, use
a tool to find out. One web-based tools that can help is the HTTP
Status Code Checker. lt will shed light on which codes a particular
URL is giving. The more information you have about how Google reads,
indexes and displays your site, the better you can optimize it to get the
best possible SEO.
Creating a Custom 404 Page
Once you「ve sorted out your soft 404 errors, you should create a
custom 404 page to help site visitors navigate to the information they
want or need. ldeally, the page would give them navigation options, an
error message and any additional information you deem fit in an
attractive format that fits with the rest of your site. Having a custom
page could help retain first-time visitors who navigate to your site and
are met with an error. Google offers a 404 widget you can place on a
custom 404 page. itnot only helps a viewer find more information, but
also suggests other ways to find what they clicked the link to find.
UWnce you ve sorted out your solt 4U4 errors, you Should create a
custom 404 page to help site visitors navigate to the information they
want or need. ldeally, the page would give them navigation options, an
error message and any additional information you deem fit in an
attractive format that fits with the rest of your site. Having a custom
page could help retain first-time visitors who navigate to your site and
are met with an error. Google offers a 404 widget you can place on a
custom 404 page. itnot only helps a viewer find more information, but
also suggests other ways to find what they clicked the link to find.
This is not the
Web page Jou
are looking for.
Github have combined custom visuals with humour fora great 404
page
You can use your Google Webmaster account to check the XML
sitemap of your page to make sure the widget will display and function
correctly.
Making it easier for a viewer to find what they want may increase the
likelihood that the person will stay on your page instead of switching to
a competitor. They will offer a way back to your primary domain and
also give you protection against undiscovered broken links:.
a competitor. They will offer a way back to your primary domain and
also give you protection against undiscovered broken links:.
Though soft 404 errors may not look like a major problem for your site,
they can have a major impact on both the search engine ranking and
the customer experience. ldentifying, locating and adjusting your
pages so that the right HTTP code is sent can fix these problems.
Since your search ranking goes a long way in determining how much
traffic is sent to your site by Google, it「s essential to optimize your
pages and deliver the best possible product to both site visitors and
web crawlers.
The post Soft 404 Vs Hard 404 Errors: What「s The Difference2?
appeared first on Performancing.